(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) PBS anchor Judy Woodruff issued a mea culpa on Wednesday for falsely accusing former President Donald Trump of persuading Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to block a ceasefire deal with Hamas.
During a segment at the Democratic National Convention on Monday, Woodruff claimed that Trump had urged Netanyahu to reject a ceasefire until after the 2024 election, suggesting it would be politically advantageous for him.
But there was a major problem with Woodruff’s claims: both Trump and Netanyahu denied ever making such statements, prompting the PBS reporter to issue an apology on X.
“In the live TV moment, I repeated the story because I hadn’t seen later reporting that both sides denied it,” Woodruff wrote, garnering nearly 500,000 views. “This was a mistake and I apologize for it.”
I want to clarify my remarks on the PBS News special on Monday night about the ongoing cease fire talks in the Middle East. As I said, this was not based on my original reporting; I was referring to reports I had read, in Axios and Reuters, about former President Trump having…
— Judy Woodruff (@JudyWoodruff) August 21, 2024
Earlier in her statement, Woodruff clarified that her claims were “not based on my original reporting” but were instead regurgitated from Axios and Reuters reports about Trump’s conversations with Netanyahu.
At the heart of her mea culpa was her Monday claim: “The reporting is that former President Trump is on the phone with the prime minister of Israel, urging him not to cut a deal right now, because that’s… it’s believed that would help the Harris campaign.”
Neither Reuters nor Axios stipulated that Trump wanted a ceasefire after 2024. Tellingly, Woodruff did not respond to Headline USA’s specific questions about the sources of her claim. The email also inquired whether she plans to update her apology.
On Truth Social, Trump criticized Woodruff with a short but blunt statement: “More Fake News!” This response followed Netanyahu’s, who labeled Woodruff’s claims a “complete lie” in comments to The Jerusalem Post.
Woodruff’s false reporting contradicted Trump’s public comments urging Netanyahu to end the war between Israel and Hamas.
“I did encourage him to get this over with,” Trump said in July. “You want to get it over with fast. Have victory, get your victory, and get it over with. It has to stop, the killing has to stop.”
The conflict began after Hamas terrorists invaded southern Israel, viciously killing approximately 1,200 people on Oct. 7, 2023. Roughly 109 individuals remain in captivity in Gaza.
